Clik here to view.
Additive again
As we know, additive nomenclature is widely used in inorganic chemistry. It could be employed for organic structures too, although in a very specific and limited way [1]. I mentioned earlier that the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Multiplicative names
Have a look at the structure (a). (a)N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)glycine (substitutive) N,N,N-tris(carboxymethyl)amine (substitutive) 2,2′,2″-nitrilotriacetic acid (multiplicative) Its preferred IUPAC name...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nomenclature roundup
Here are the main types of chemical nomenclature in a nutshell. Well, the post turned out to be a bit longer than I expected. So let’s say “chemical nomenclature in a coconutshell”. Compositional...
View ArticleStep back
Those of you who were reading my blog this year might have noticed that words such as “prefix”, “suffix” or “ending” are used extensively in chemical nomenclature. And those of my readers who remember...
View ArticleEndings
First of all, let’s have a look at endings, also known as inflectional suffixes. In highly inflected languages such as Latin or Russian endings change depending on number, gender and case. In Russian,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Content morphemes
At this point, it might be useful to mention that morphemes could be divided into two classes: content morphemes (i.e. those that have independent meaning) and functional morphemes. All content words...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prefixes — or combining forms?
With “endings” out of the way, shall we move on to “prefixes”? In a number of IUPAC publications, the entities that are referred to as “prefixes” include Numerical prefixes [1], aka multiplicative...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Suffixes — or combining forms?
In a number of IUPAC publications, the entities that are referred to as “suffixes” include Suffix for the principal characteristic group, such as ‘-amine’, ‘-one’ or ‘-oic acid’ [1]; Suffixes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stems, roots, bases
In a number of IUPAC publications, the entities that are referred to as “stems” include Latin stems such as ‘argent’, ‘aur’, ‘cupr’, ‘ferr’, etc. used before ‘ide’ or ‘ate’ in anion names [1]; Stem...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Irregularity and suppletion
Now that we’ve established that all chemical names consist of content words and each content word includes at least one base, we can rephrase our original statement ix New chemical names are formed by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chains and rings
After hours spent looking in my books and searching the internet, I came to the conclusion that chemists talk about chains and rings without explaining what they mean. The only definition I found so...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Carbon chains
Introduction aside, almost every organic chemistry textbook begins with alkanes, that is, acyclic hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Maybe because of that, chemists tend to think of their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
von Hofmann’s footnote
Systematic name formation in chemistry typically happens through compounding, derivation, or mix of both. The semantic modification of a combining form through umlaut-like vowel change as seen in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Branched hydrocarbons
How can we name the structure (a)? (a) [Sn(CH3)3H] hydridotrimethyltin (additive)trimethylstannane (substitutive) We can give it an additive name‘hydridotrimethyltin’. Alternatively, based on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alicyclic monocycles
Now let us have a look at monocyclic hydrocarbons, starting with cycloalkanes. By the way, I think this term is a bit misleading: cycloalkanes indeed contain cycles but are notalkanes because these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mancude rings and annulenes
What do the structures (a), (b) and (c) have in common? (a)(b)(c) [18]annulene cyclooctadeca-1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17-nonaene (PIN) 1,3,5,2,4,6-triazatriphosphinine thiophene Well, it is obvious that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hantzsch-Widman names
Are you tired of carbocycles? Let’s have some ring diversity, I say. Structures that contain two or more different elements in a ring are called heterocyclic. Perhaps because “heteroatom” is really an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The many names of crowns
What is the best way to name the structure (a)? (a) 1,4,7-trioxonane (Hantzsch-Widman) 1,4,7-trioxacyclononane (replacement) cyclo[tri(oxyethylene)] (organic macrocycle) 9-crown-3 (Pedersen)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bicycles
How many rings has the structure (a)? (a) diphenyl ether (functional class) 1,1′-oxydibenzene (multiplicative) phenoxybenzene (substitutive) Why, there are two, you’ll say. Anybody can see that. And...
View ArticleClik here to view.
von Baeyer names
Here’s a cute little structure: (a) housane (trivial) bicyclo[2.1.0]pentane (von Baeyer) Drawn like this, (a) looks like a little house and, indeed, is known as a housane. Alexander Senning called...
View Article